The musings of a feminist pop culture fanatic

EW Description: “Most people missed this R-rated Aussie crime drama. Watch it now for Jacki Weaver’s Oscar-worthy turn as a sweet and vicious mother.”

Here’s the story in a nutshell: Boy (J) loses mother to a heroin overdose. Boy goes to live with grandmother (Smurf) and uncles. Uncles are pretty much all criminals. One uncle is in hiding. Boy starts talking with detective possibly getting out of his current situation. Boy eventually goes into witness protection. Boy comes out of witness protection. Uncles keep dying. Boy reunites with family.

There are a couple other twists and turns in there, but I didn’t want to completely ruin the plot for those who have not seen it yet, which is pretty much everyone that doesn’t actively follow the film awards season or smaller movies. That’s not meant as a dig against anyone. It just is a really small movie that hasn’t gained much mainstream attention.

The film isn’t the greatest thing I have ever seen, but some aspects of it are absolutely astounding. The actor who plays J does decent with the role, but I wouldn’t necessarily call it award-winning. Basically, he just has to mumble a lot and seem like he doesn’t trust people. I wasn’t overly impressed with him. The true star of the film is Jacki Weaver as Grandma Smurf. She does fantastic with the double-sided nature of her character. She can go from being a sweet grandmother to pure evil at the drop of a hat. While she probably won’t win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, it is truly a well-deserved nomination.

Outside of Jacki Weaver’s role, there isn’t a whole lot else to say about the film. The story isn’t terribly interesting. There’s nothing that really stands out about the directing. It’s a fairly average movie with one really outstanding performance. It’s worth it to watch and see Weaver do her thing, though.